2. He was the illegitimate child of Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine notary, and Caterina, a peasant.

3. Leonardo was raised by his single father.

4. He began his career as an apprentice to Florentine artist Andrea del Verrochio.

5. Leonardo was an architect, musician, engineer, scientist and inventor.

6. He wrote most of his notes using mirror writing. Some believe that this was to keep his ideas secret.

7. Leonardo sketched the first parachute, first helicopter, first airplane, first tank, first repeating rifle, swinging bridge, paddleboat and the first motorcar.

8. He made maps of Europe.

9. He invented the scissors and hydraulic pumps.

10. He designed a movable bridge for the Duke of Milan.

11. He invented the bicycle 300 years before it appeared on the road.

12. Leonardo's first solo painting, completed in 1478, was 'Madonna and Child'.

13. He took part as an engineer in the war against Pisa.

14. 'The Mona Lisa' is perhaps his most famous work. The subject of this portrait is still debated to this day, the most popular current view being that it is of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo. One of the most unusual hypotheses is that it is a self-portrait of Leonardo as a woman. It took him about ten years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.

15. Leonardo had a reputation of being a man of high character.

16. Leonardo Da Vinci predicted the mass use of solar energy as long ago as 1447.